This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...
To find out more...
The secret of cooking until "done"
This is a real chef's skill: being able to look at a fish fillet cooking and say, "Stop – that's enough, it's cooked". I always admire this ability to see at a glance if something is done. It is what sets the professionals apart from us mere amateurs.
And it's true that how fish is cooked is important. If it is underdone, it can be sticky and tasteless, overdone and it dries out and becomes rubbery.
And it's true that how fish is cooked is important. If it is underdone, it can be sticky and tasteless, overdone and it dries out and becomes rubbery.
20 K 4.4/5 (25 reviews)
Keywords for this post:CookingChefJustTimeFishMeatMeasureThermometerLast modified on: November 26th 2012
The secret of cooking until "done"
Here we have a problem: the chef's eye (so they say) is only acquired after many years of experience, so it's unlikely that you or I will ever have it! So are our eyes only good for shedding a regretful tear? No – we can dry our eyes and let technology come to the rescue: for food to be cooked just right is simply a matter of temperature. In other words, fish will be perfectly cooked when the temperature in the centre of the fillet reaches 65-70°C (149-158°F).
Here's the trick: first cook the fish on one side (salted and peppered beforehand). When it looks sufficiently fried or grilled, turn it over and stick an electronic thermometer into the centre.
As soon as the temperature shown reaches 65°C (149°F), remove the fish from the heat, transfer onto a hot plate and cover with aluminium foil. If you leave the thermometer in, you will see that even away from the heat source, the temperature will continue to rise by a few more degrees until it reaches around 70°C (158°F), so the fish will still be cooking.
This resting time also allows the juices which have flowed towards the outside to be reabsorbed into the flesh, giving you the tenderest and tastiest fish ever!
You may well be surprised at just how little time it takes to reach this temperature. You will no doubt find that you tended to overcook fish before.
2 observations:
- Certain electronic thermometers are fitted with an alarm which beeps at the chosen temperature, which is very useful.
- You will no doubt see other temperatures, less than 65°C, stated elsewhere. This is a matter of taste.
Chefs – yes, them again – use touch to judge how cooked red meat is.
This is not easy for the amateur but, fortunately for us, help is at hand! You can use the same method for red meat, but this time the temperature to watch for depends on how well done you like it:
52°C (126°F) = very rare (“bleu” = “blue” in French)
60°C (140°F) = rare
65°C (149°F) = medium
70°C (158°F) = well done
But these temperatures are very approximate, as for red meat, you need to establish your own scale, according to your own taste.
Measure
Here's the trick: first cook the fish on one side (salted and peppered beforehand). When it looks sufficiently fried or grilled, turn it over and stick an electronic thermometer into the centre.
Leave to rest
As soon as the temperature shown reaches 65°C (149°F), remove the fish from the heat, transfer onto a hot plate and cover with aluminium foil. If you leave the thermometer in, you will see that even away from the heat source, the temperature will continue to rise by a few more degrees until it reaches around 70°C (158°F), so the fish will still be cooking.
This resting time also allows the juices which have flowed towards the outside to be reabsorbed into the flesh, giving you the tenderest and tastiest fish ever!
You may well be surprised at just how little time it takes to reach this temperature. You will no doubt find that you tended to overcook fish before.
2 observations:
- Certain electronic thermometers are fitted with an alarm which beeps at the chosen temperature, which is very useful.
- You will no doubt see other temperatures, less than 65°C, stated elsewhere. This is a matter of taste.
What about meat?
Chefs – yes, them again – use touch to judge how cooked red meat is.
This is not easy for the amateur but, fortunately for us, help is at hand! You can use the same method for red meat, but this time the temperature to watch for depends on how well done you like it:
52°C (126°F) = very rare (“bleu” = “blue” in French)
60°C (140°F) = rare
65°C (149°F) = medium
70°C (158°F) = well done
But these temperatures are very approximate, as for red meat, you need to establish your own scale, according to your own taste.
Lasts posts
Oven height
When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.October 8th 20251,7765
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 20257,0273
The grease spray
As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...August 26th 20256,5055
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?August 25th 20256,5885
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20254,7015
Other pages you may also like
Butter doesn't make you fat, unless you eat too much of it.
Whenever I'm discussing cooking and recipes, there is one idea which comes up frequently, like this: "Oh no! But that's got butter in it" (I should add, for the sake of accuracy, that this is something I hear more frequently from women, who are almost all concerned with keeping their figure). ...March 26th 201245 K4.5
The golden-brown finish on puff pastry
Let's take a look at the tricky matter of producing puff pastry with an attractive, golden-brown finish. French pastry chefs call this "dorure" (literally, "gilding"). Behind this quirky term there lurks a real problem (and the solution): when using puff pastry (pâte feuilletée) for a pie, or...February 8th 201847 K 24.6
The march forward
When professionals get to work in their kitchen, lab or bakery, they are (if they are conscientious) very sensitive to hygiene and cleanliness. It is impossible for a good baker for example to do a day's work without regularly cleaning the table where he or she works, and it is even more...June 30th 202119 K5
The right way to cook potatoes
If you simply boil them (not steam them), or bake them in the oven, at some point you will have to ask yourself the question "are they well cooked?".March 23th 202016 K4.7
Baking a cake at the right time
When you make a cake, which most likely contains butter, a cake for example, chances are that as soon as the batter is finished, you put it in the pan and bake it immediately. Classic, everyone does it like that, and then if, on top of that, you have a few kids around you who are getting...April 18th 202020 K4.5
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.